Picking Produce for All Its Pros

A person’s choice in diet can be determined by religion, family values, ethnic tradition, health restrictions or personal preference, but no matter the influence, food is an important part of every human’s life. In a day and age where health and fitness have become a focus, wild, ridiculous, miserable fads and outrageous, down-right dangerous diets are hard to escape from in everyday life. Living in a country that soaks in processed meats, dairy, and hydrogenated fats like it’s the bread of life, we also tend to inhale as many pills and serums as we can in order to shrink ourselves back down again. It’s no wonder that it can be difficult to find a balanced meal plan that is good for oneself, the environment, and the world.

It is really incredible how sustainable a plant-based diet can be if you know what you are doing. Fruits and veggies can be grown abundantly and unobtrusively in your own backyard! Even if gardening isn’t your thing, shopping for locally sourced produce from a farmer’s market is a wonderful way to support your community. Apart from availability, whole, fresh fruits and vegetables have endless health benefits: increased energy, improved mood, amazing cleansing properties, the ability to fill you up without eating thousands and thousands of calories, and an overall more positive outlook on life. Meats and dairy are full of fats, chemicals, and artificial preservers. Decreasing your animal-based intake every day and increasing your plant-based intake can really have eye opening effects. You will be able to fulfill all of your daily nutritional needs from food that spent its life basking in the sunlight instead of shoved into a cage so small it could barely move. The benefits of a plant-based diet are also very philanthropic as well. Grains and legumes are plentiful and staples in many countries around the world and can be produced in larger amounts and can feed far more people than an animal. Vegetables also produce about 1/20th of the emissions as its equivalent amount of beef. Though it can be very difficult to give up the treats of bacon and ice cream, just take switching to a plant-based diet as food for thought. If you love animals, this lifestyle is most definitely the way to go. The conditions of animals raised in slaughterhouses is absolutely despicable and extremely unhealthy. The amount of waste created from the parts of animals not eaten and the outputs of industrial farm complexes is only increasing our carbon footprint and is just truly the wrong way to treat our earth and animals.